Historic High Line Graffiti Gets Buffed

Sadly, much of the graffiti adorning walls along the High Line is getting whitewashed in preparation for the former rail lineâ€™s opening as a public park this summer. Apparently, â€œthe highline organization does not consider itself responsible for protecting the historic graffitiâ€ and â€œthe mayor’s office made private decisions with the property owners without consulting the public,” reports Curbed. Public Ad Campaign’s Jordan Seiler points out the irony of the culture-killing aspect of the buff:

“[T]heir mistake was thinking these tags detracted from the visual landscape when in fact they added a rich texture and history to the wall that only becomes apparent through the grafitti’s patina, the age of the spray paint, and the history of writing culture. What a shame.”

The most ironic part of this buff is that no further than this graffiti is from the highline, there is a huge billboard which now has advertising for Larry Flynt's Hustler Club. Shouldn't they have left the KID and PK tags, and buffed Larry Flynt's dirty pictures.